I first discovered the Nation when I was in high school back in the other sixties. At that time I thought the Nation was some sort of a semi-official government publication. If you recall back then, it sort of did look like that. The magazine had a tweedy iconoclastic tone that I liked. The politics of the magazine struck me as being FDR with an occasional story by TR. It was the voice of authority out of the federal blue. Reading the Nation made you feel like you were getting high-level inside information.
Reading Cockburn in the Nation and in his own little scandal sheet Counter Punch, I know that Cockburn has written on the subject of political contributions by Indian tribes. Some tribes have given big dollars to politicians and not received favors promised. I have a hunch this has a lot to do with Cockburn's attitude. By the same token it's a cheap way to try to force American Indian leaderships hand on the issue of political contributions and the gambling industry. Particularly when directed at a very clean leader of American Indian ancestry like Ward Churchill.
Sincerely, Thomas Lehman